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Proms at Battersea review – Top of the Pops, roaring cello and static crackles

Battersea Arts Centre, London
This teasing, challenging new-music bill was a mashup of genres, noises and hi-tech tools that rejoiced in sonic breadth

It opened with a vocal tour de force from Jennifer Walshe: snatches of pop hits poured unaccompanied from her lips, lyrics spliced like an anarchic mashup of Top of the Pops 2 footage. And it ended with Oliver Coates brandishing his cello aloft, its tone distorting with each movement – part helicopter, part electric guitar – as layers of synthesised sound roared around him. They dissipated gradually, leaving a single sustained note and ears ringing.

This latest Proms outing beyond South Kensington didn’t just step away from the cavernous Royal Albert Hall into the intimate, artfully lit and stripped-wall surroundings of the BAC. Performed across three small stages surrounding its standing audience, this mixed programme of new music crossed other boundaries: between music and noise, genres and styles, human performers and hi-tech tools.

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from Culture | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2SPoexZ
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